St Kolbe holds a gold crown and a crown of thorns. He is draped with the clothing Holocaust victims were forced to wear with the number 16670 embroidered on it.
·

St. Maximilian Kolbe

August 14, 2027

Jump to prayer, recipe

St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) was a martyr who sacrificed himself on behalf of another prisoner in the World War II concentration camps at Auschwitz.  

As a young man, Maximilian had a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary, and he once had a vision that affected him deeply of the Virgin, offering him both a white and a red crown. She asked him which he would take, but he took them both—understanding that the red meant martyrdom and the white, a life of purity. He entered the Franciscans the very next year.  

St Kolbe holds a gold crown and a crown of thorns. He is draped with the clothing Holocaust victims were forced to wear with the number 16670 embroidered on it.

As a religious, Maximilian worked in Catholic publishing in Poland and wrote against the Nazis, which got him arrested more than once. He and his Brothers helped hide the Jewish and Polish people who were being targeted by the Nazis, as well. Eventually, he was sent to the prison camps at Warsaw and then Auschwitz.  

When one of the prisoners at Auschwitz escaped, ten remaining prisoners were selected to die as punishment. Maximilian volunteered to go in the place of one of the ten, a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek, who had a young family at home. Gajowniczek survived the camps, returned to his family, and would later attend Kolbe’s canonization service in 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe shows us the meaning of John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends.” 

Prayer for your Table

Dear Jesus,  
Even in the darkest of moments, St Maximilian was brave enough to follow after You and your example of self-sacrificing love. He also loved your Mother so much as to let his devotion to her inspire his life’s direction.  
Grant that we would build our bravery in faith, and that we would always seek to love our Heavenly Mother with purpose and with heart. We ask, too, that you would show to us where our faith should inspire any new or different steps forward, in love and humility, like Maximilian.  
In Your Name,  
Amen.  
St Maximilian, pray for us!  

Menu Suggestions

At your table, you want to serve Potato Dill Soup, a traditional dish in St. Maximilian Kolbe’s homeland of Poland. An even easier option is to serve pierogies (which are sometimes available in the freezer section of the grocery store). 

A blue and white bowl of soup with potatoes, dill, and carrots.

Upcoming in the Liturgical Year